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殺一儆百

简杀一儆百 · 繁殺一儆百

Mandarin · pinyin shā yī jǐng bǎi

lit. kill one to warn a hundred (idiom); to punish an individual as an example to others
pour encourager les autres

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Characters in this entry

殺: Look up this written character
一: yī · one; a, an; alone
儆: jǐng · warn; warning
百: bǎi · one hundred; numerous, many
杀: shā · kill, slaughter, murder; hurt

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–3–3 · sha1 yi1 jing3 bai3

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Connected dictionary

4character links1same-tone record

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

殺一儆百 · find source passages ↗ · 杀一儆百 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saat3 jat1 ging2 baak3

Cantonese word readings for 殺一儆百. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to warn by example

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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